Not getting a Letter of Rec from current supervisor?

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by vineeshp » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:36 pm
Just make sure that the two previous ones are not speaking about the same features about you in their recos.
Also, you can use the optional essay to explain the reasons for your choice.
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by Jon@Admissionado » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:17 am
Every schools expects you to have a recommendation from your current employer. If you don't get one this can be OK, but you should have good reasons and you more or less have to explain it somewhere in your application.
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by ggibson » Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:07 pm
Thanks for the feedback!

I can obtain letters from three of my former bosses, all of which would be very supportive. For reference, I have worked at the same company for my entire post-undergrad career. This is a bit specific, but maybe someone could give me some insight as to which two I should choose from these three:

Current Supervisor: I have reported to her for only about 9 months now (as an account manager), but I worked alongside for about 4 years previously (as an analyst). She has good writing skills & MBA from Virginia Tech (not applying), both of which I think could be helpful & relevant for a LoR.

Previous Supervisor #1: I reported to him as an analyst before my current supervisor for 16 months. I joined the finance department in my company to try out FP&A, but decided it wasn't quite the right fit for me. Very supportive manager, but possibly not the best writer (he's more of a quant-type) and does not have an MBA. I think his feedback would be from a different perspective than my other two options though.

Previous Supervisor #2: I reported to her for over 2 years before my stint in finance, and now she is our direct contact at a major client that I co-manage (so I work with her regularly now). Before I reported to her, I was also in the same department often aiding her with projects for about 2 years. She's very articulate and also has an MBA from USC, a school to which I am applying. One downside is that the body of work which she and my current supervisor would reference is largely the same, although since I have a few years under my belt, I think I could keep the two from overlapping too much.

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by Jon@Admissionado » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:14 pm
Well, I'll give you the quick answer, because the long one is that there are a lot of other important factors to consider when choosing a recommender, so if you work with a consultant you should work that out. But from what you wrote I would say go with your first and second recommenders, except of course in the case in which you are applying to USC, in which case you would go with first and third, but making sure they are differentiated.
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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:28 pm
One of the most common reasons people do not select the current supervisor is because doing so will threaten upward mobility at the company. Schools understand this. So, if that is your reason do not worry about letting them know in the optional essay.

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